


A Bug for a Bug

by Rabentochter



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Choices, Happy Ending, Light Angst, Loki (Marvel) Does What He Wants, Loki (Marvel) Gets What He Wants, M/M, Near Death Experiences, Pining, Possessive Behavior, Post-Betrayal, Tony Stark Does What He Wants, Tony Stark Gets a Hug, Tony Stark Needs a Hug
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-10
Updated: 2019-10-10
Packaged: 2020-12-07 20:04:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,041
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20981591
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rabentochter/pseuds/Rabentochter
Summary: Tony wakes up in a room in a hospital. To his great surprise,alive.





	A Bug for a Bug

**Author's Note:**

  * For [AMidnightDreary](https://archiveofourown.org/users/AMidnightDreary/gifts).
  * Inspired by [An Eye for an Eye](https://archiveofourown.org/works/20949116) by [AMidnightDreary](https://archiveofourown.org/users/AMidnightDreary/pseuds/AMidnightDreary). 

> I've been thinking about about "An Eye for an Eye" a lot ever since I first read it dkfjkj and then I had an idea for how it could continue at work? 
> 
> Jojo, I hope you like it 🙌❤️

He woke up to the sound of beeping. Tony was surprised by that. He hadn’t been counting on hearing anything ever again. Not after Loki had put his knife through him, watched him with those horribly empty eyes, Tony’s blood spilling everywhere in dark red; his hands twitching into the air, trying to reach Loki at least _physically _if he couldn’t do it verbally. He hadn’t meant to –

He had meant to. A while ago. A long fucking time ago when all Tony had wanted was to bring Loki down and have him put into a cell. Faking a relationship for that was easy, pretending to love an insane guy who had for sure a brain that would have made Einstein jealous and his dry and witty humour, even when he sometimes simply _was mad _– it had happened so fast. A moan into Tony’s ear when fingers interlaced with his, dark green eyes boring into his, ridden mad with want and desire, a whisper of promised Tony would hear forever; branded into his mind as they were.

Nobody had known. Everybody simply had seen the evidence of their nightly (and daily) encounters but Tony shot all questions down with a joke, a quick quip. Loki was his, he’d realised when he had turned off the bug in Loki’s knife. It was useless now. Still there and it would there for as long as Loki had the knife – all Tony could do was to hope his lover would never find out. He was too addicted to him, his heart, broken apart and ripped to shreds by Pepper leaving, saying they weren’t working out anymore and the Avengers well – they had their own thing going on, hadn’t they? They’d forgotten about the bug after Tony announced them Loki had found and destroyed it.

It was a lie. Nobody had forced him to _lie to his team_. But – he couldn’t tell on Loki anymore. When he listened in he wanted to be _with him, _pull his tall magician down for a bruising kiss that turned softer as time went on. He met Loki after that a few times more but with each meeting Tony realised that –

He was ashamed. Not that he ever could be ashamed, of course. Yet this gnawing feeling, the guilt that crawled up his throat whenever he looked into Loki’s burning eyes and responded to each kiss, never failed to pick up on Tony’s banter and gave him _excellent _advice on how to make his suits stronger against hits from an object that was made of uru.

_ He’d been worried about me_, Tony realised. He opened his eyes to look at a dreadfully white ceiling. Hospital. But yeah, after those few meetings where it felt like everything had become too much _for him _when he was drowning in his guilty feelings and shame, he started to avoid Loki. It was a bad move, it would be so much easier if he’d just confess – he was probably going to die either way. Loki didn’t take to betrayal easily.

And yet – here he was. In a bed in a hospital. Loki hadn’t missed his stomach. His knife had been _inside of him_. By all accords, he should be dead, seeing a coffin from the insides, his eyes closed forever and all that shit.

And there wasn’t a nurse yet? Weren’t nurses supposed to come running when a client woke up from an almost death? Because Tony was 112% sure he’d been at that point. He looked around carefully. The room was empty except for his bed.

_ Weird_.

Shivers were running through his body. “Loki?” he asked into the erringly silence of the room.

“Hello, Stark.”

Loki was sitting on his bed next to him. A hand rose to lay down over his stomach.

“Normally,” Tony gasped as green energy shot through him, smelling of acid and pines and something he just knew as _Loki _, “I’d ask if you’re back to finish your job but-“ Another gasp, painful as his insides put themselves back together, “that doesn’t entirely fit what you’re doing here.”

“I don’t trust you,” Loki announced coldly. “But you are like a virus, you wiggled your way inside of me and when I saw you bleeding out _as you should_, I couldn’t bear the thought of not seeing you anymore.”

“Oh,” Tony chocked on the pain that was wrecking through him. “Sorry?” Not that he really was. He grasped for Loki’s other hand, the one that wasn’t busy with healing him and held onto it like it was the only way to survive this. His skin was cold under Tony’s already cool fingers.

“What have you done to me?” Loki whispered, harsh as the sun shone down on Malibu in summer. “Why couldn’t you just accept your death and leave me alone?”

“I hardly,” Tony gasped, “said anything after you made a shashlik out of me. That’s on you, Lokes.”

Eyes, green as the first plant that grew in spring after winter stared at him. “Not only on me.” He wiggled his fingers, his veins lit up in an unholy green light and pain shot through Tony before –

He simply fell back into his pillows.

“That was a tracing spell,” Loki told him.

“A bug for a bug, hm?” The chuckle that broke out of him was sincere. It was such a Loki thing to do.

“Indeed.” Loki cocked his head, a grin flitting over his face. “So that you never try to betray me again, Anthony.”

And there it was. Anthony. Tender, the mad note to it that gave Tony goosebumps of the pleasant kind and all he could do was to smile back at Loki.

Was this fucked up? Most likely, the Avengers would hate him for doing this. Daring to survive because he had a thing going on with Loki but – they could go and knee themselves into the groin. Whatever they gave Tony, it was nothing regarding how Loki stared at him. 

And they paled in comparison too when Loki bent down to meet his lips in a soft kiss, his hand resting warm against Tony’s stomach and he kissed him like it was the last thing he would ever do.

Tony didn’t mind at all.


End file.
